Composing : PART 2 — “The Three Engines Every Composer Must Separate” by Baron Rothschild

PART 2 — “The Three Engines Every Composer Must Separate”

Most composing overwhelm doesn’t come from lack of talent or inspiration. It comes from a structural collapse:

you’re trying to run three different engines at the same time.

When these engines collapse into one moment, the composer experiences:

- confusion

- false starts

- endless revisions

- emotional fatigue

- “nothing sounds right”

This isn’t a musical issue — it’s a sequencing issue.

Here are the three engines:

Engine 1 — The Identity Engine (Upstream)

This engine answers the question:

“What is this score ultimately about?”

Not musically — structurally.

Examples:

- “This score is about fracture.”

- “This score is about inevitability.”

- “This score is about a world losing its center.”

This is the spine.

If the spine is unclear, everything downstream becomes guesswork.

Engine 2 — The Function Engine (Midstream)

This engine answers:

“What does the score need to do in this moment?”

- stabilize

- destabilize

- reveal

- conceal

- interrupt

- support

This is the behavioral layer — the score’s job inside the scene.

Engine 3 — The Execution Engine (Downstream)

This engine answers:

“How do I express that musically?”

- motif

- harmony

- orchestration

- tempo

- palette

- texture

This is where the notes finally appear.

⭐ The Composer’s Clarity Rule

You cannot run all three engines at once.

When you try, you freeze.

When you separate them, you move.

Upstream clarity is the discipline of sequencing:

- Identity — what the score is

- Function — what the score does

- Execution — how the score sounds

This is how composers stop guessing and start composing with structural confidence.